Wandering Indiana

My job takes me all across the state at times. Typically, I see people who are within an hour or two of my home and I love driving (most of the time). It gives me time to myself, to sing (ha!), reflect, or just space out. I see all kinds of people in all kinds of conditions, which lends me to end up in all kinds of interesting situations.

Now, as I wander Indiana, I generally seek out assistance from Yahoo! maps as I've found them to be pretty accurate. Except when it comes to addresses like "13789 E. County Road 200 N 435 W ". Can anyone explain to me why the county road system in Indiana remains this prosaic? It drives me INSANE. Particularly when driving along a road that begins as "900 N" and by the time you drive five miles down the same road, you are now on "650 E". What?!?!

I had an appointment in rural Putnam County on Thursday afternoon. I didn't bother getting Yahoo! directions as the homeowner gave me directions herself (which I find is the easiest when dealing with a CR address). Plus, I grew up in Putnam County so am fairly familiar with it. This lady gives me directions to follow HWY 231 North. to where it meets up with Hendricks County and turn left on Hendricks County Road. Okay. Well, HWY 231 North ends up in Montgomery County, not Hendricks. So I called her. She said, "Oh, I don't live anywhere near there, you were supposed to turn on HWY 36 East about 10 miles back." Thanks. She reminds me to turn left on "County Line Road" (which she last called Hendricks County Road) So back to HWY 36 I go. I find the county line and a road called "PUTNAM COUNTY ROAD" (which she referred to as both Henricks County Road and County Line Road) Are you seeing a pattern here?

I turned down Putnam County Road and began looking for the next road she told me was coming "Turn Left on 900 N". I drove up and down Putnam County Road forever back and forth, back and forth. No 900 N to be found. I called the lady again and she didn't answer the phone. I left a "strained" message asking her to call me back. She didn't. I then began randomly turning on roads because, what the heck else was I going to do?

About 15 minutes later, a UPS truck surrounded in halos and light came over the hill towards me. I flagged the driver down and asked him if he had any idea where the address was I was given. He did. I was only about a mile and a half off. He tells me that back on Putnam County Road I actually need to look for "200 N" on the right side of the road, and it is "900 N" on the left hand side. However, some kids tore the sign off the left hand side of the road, so you only see the 200 N sign. Nice.

I arrived at my appointment (a full hour late) to find the lady cleaning out her car in the driveway. I didn't even try to force a smile. She said, "Oh Hi! Did you have trouble finding the place?"

Uhhh... yeah. Thanks for the directions.